Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Midweek Extra - Maybe I Should Race


I’ve had no desire to race this year.  Too much time commitment, money and disappointment.  I realize it’s different for everybody.  But I have to face the fact that I’m just not very good.  I bought a license at the beginning of the year in the hope of faking myself into training as if I was going to race.  Honestly it worked out exactly as I had hoped.  I lost all of the weight I wanted to lose and then some.  I didn’t train too many hours because I don’t really care, but I always kept that possibility in the back of my mind. 

After several weeks of casual training I started noticing something.  I was feeling better on the bike than I ever had.  Some days would feel weak, but the strong days were stronger than ever.  Although the numbers didn’t seem to verify it.  My rides were slower than in previous years.  I thought that might be due to the fact that I wasn’t really going all out.  I was just going kind of hard for a while during my rides and then spending several minutes at a time relaxing on the bike. 

I would have 4 or 5 days of very weak riding followed by 4 days of stronger than ever (perceptibly) riding.  I started to log what I was doing the days of all these rides to try to make sense of it.  One thing came clear that coincided with all the strong rides.  They were after days of eating lots of carbohydrate rich foods. 

Then, a couple of weeks ago after a particularly hard ride, I chased down a time trialing Mike Miles.  Shim likes to give me shit about the fact that my heart rate went past 170 during this effort trying to chase down Munson, who was wheel sucking, and is by his own admission not in good form right now.  But the truth of the matter is that I averaged between 29 and 30 MPH for the 5 minutes I chased them down.  Obviously this is a walk in the park for a Cat 3 legend like Shim, who is actually too good to upgrade.  But for me, a Cat 4 nobody, it was significant.

Last Friday night we (the family) had to go to a social event.  I ate a lot of snacky carb type food.  So Saturday, I went for a ride that I’ve done through the years to test my fitness.  It’s just a 25 mile out and back.  I have a PR for this ride that has stood for about 7 years.  Until Saturday.  I broke it with an average speed .2 mph higher than before.  Oh yeah, and I added 8 miles of hills to the route.  So maybe I should race.  If Munson is in the race and I can get my heart rate up to 170, I’m destined to not come in last place.  Shim can stand on the sidelines waiting for his elite race, yelling encouraging stuff like “allez allez allez, fatties!”  It will be awesome …. awesome … awesome …

“Freddie, wake up.  Time for school.”

“Five more minutes, Mom.  I had the weirdest dream just now.  There was this mean old guy on a bike who went around talking shit to lesser riders …”

“Those are called assholes, Freddie.  Now get ready for school.”

“Oh yeah, and this guy.  He said you were a whore.”

“It’s because his mother is a whore, Freddie.  School.”

“I guess that makes sense.  But he’s not real.  It was just a dream … Or was it?”

Ok - now I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.

10 comments:

munsoned said...

Ugh. All this "bantering," ie making fun of me is making me think about getting into shape so I can hurt some people again.

Flintstone R Cube said...

Yes Munson. That's the point. That's Shim's point. Talk and post all you want, but until you actually do something, who gives a shit.

munsoned said...

Ouch dude. Ouch.

Thanks for being brutally honest.

Now, where's my bike...

Flintstone R Cube said...

Oh - yeah - if the shoe fits and all that. I was really just talking about me, so ... It's all about me, you know.

munsoned said...

Ah, you meant "you" as in you, you. Got it. I'll go back to drinking beer and playing video games.

Just kidding. Riding with Mr. Miles at TT pace (while drafting) made me miss LT workouts. Call me crazy, but being on the cusp between max possible speed and just enough pain always felt good. Each week, I need to do one of those workouts, a hill climbing workout, and a long ride. Anything I get on top of that is just gravy. Time to break out the planner.

Flintstone R Cube said...

Right - "you" as in Shim's perspective, speaking to all of us lesser humans, "Hey! Youz guys suck!"

I agree - LT workouts are grand.

Shim said...

Two questions and one comment.

Fred, who is a cat 3?

Munson, for something to happen "again" would assume that it happenened previously.

Does Miles still ride?

PS
Don't forget tacos tomorrow

Flintstone R Cube said...

Sorry Shim. Congratulations on the upgrade. I missed it. Nice work and all that. You are awesome. What time do you guys leave U.P. for tacos? I mean just in case I get a chance to be there and everything.

Shim said...

Sorry you missed it, Brady paid.

Speaking of paying, I want to see you race so badly I'll pay your entry fee and buy you a burrito if you race. Come on buddy the state crit is only a few weeks off.

You can do it!

Flintstone R Cube said...

You're too kind. Obviously Brady has discovered your computer unlocked and hijacked it. If I race, it will be the Road Race and/or TT on June 23/24. Hopefully, there will be an unofficial Eddy Merckx division of the Time Trial because I'm thinking about doing that one old school.